


The Birth of the Legend

by R_R_Miller



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:13:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22295365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_R_Miller/pseuds/R_R_Miller
Summary: This is a story about the courier’s life before she was a courier: when she started out as a naïve bounty hunter, how she eventually got so bad ass, and about how she met and fell in love with Vulpes Inculta well before she ever saw him wearing a dog’s head or over-sized gambler’s hat.
Relationships: Caesar/Joshua Graham (Fallout), Female Courier/Vulpes Inculta, Vulpes Inculta/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Preface

This is the story takes place before the events of New Vegas. 

After losing the Battle of the First Hoover Dam, the Legion has recuperated and once again sets it’s sights west, towards New Vegas and Hoover Dam. 

While Caesar musters the strength of his armies east of the Colorado under his new legate, Lanius, Vulpes Inculta and the frumentarii scout the Mojave, searching out potential weakness and opportunities for psychological warfare. 

What they find is a largely lawless territory under loose NCR control. Trade struggles along the I 95. The land is poorly cultivated by homesteaders, independent ranchers, and NCR tenant farms. People band together in fragile towns for trade and safety, but the land is constantly plagued by bandits, roaming fiends and monstrosities of the wasteland. 

In these anarchic times, law and order and protection is maintained is obtained through small town justice in the form of posses and local sheriffs. For larger issues that expand beyond the purview of local justice, people seek out NCR sanctioned marshals who hire professional bounty hunters to bring wrongdoers to justice and address the many problems that the bloated NCR cannot address through its usually ineffectual military presence. 

This is a story about the courier’s life before she was a courier: when she started out as a naïve bounty hunter, how she eventually got so badass, and about how she met and fell in love with Vulpes Inculta well before she ever saw him wearing a dog’s head or oversized gambler’s hat.


	2. Nipton

A birdcall sounded across the Mojave desert. 

Vulpes held out his hand for a pair of binoculars that he focused on the mountains to the north. He glassed the mountainside until he spied a well-camouflaged figure waiting for Vulpes’ gaze to fall upon him. The spotter signed three successive hand signals.

_Sector five. One. Armed civilian._

Vulpes ordered his men into formation with eyes to the south. 

The spotter signaled more details. 

_Brush gun, unequipped. Light armor. Female._

This ought to be interesting, thought Vulpes. A lone female willingly approaching his freshly made tableaux. A foolish move for her, but a welcome one for him. For he wondered what the profligates would make of his work. Oh, how he wished he could actually witness the fear spread through the NCR ranks. He wanted to know exactly how he would disturb their dreams and how many pissant NCR farm boys would cry themselves to sleep wishing they had stayed home. Now he wouldn’t have to imagine. He would get a taste right now.

“A profligate woman approaches from the South. Prepare to meet her,” he warned his men.

To the spotter, he communicated, shoot her if she runs.

Confirmation. Then more details:

_Early 20s. 5’ 6’’. 120 lbs._

Vulpes’ stomach churned. He could be describing _her_ , he thought longingly. 5’6’’ and 120 pounds. Is that what he held in his arms so many years ago? In another lifetime? Early twenties? She would be that age. She _is_ that age assuming the Wastes hadn’t swallowed the little thing up. It probably had. 

_Stop it. She’s dead, and yet you see her ghost everywhere. It’s a distraction. Last week, you almost got yourself killed with that female NCR ranger. You were so relieved when you reached her body to see that it wasn’t her. When you saw that you shot her through her scope, you realized your hesitation almost cost your life. That's the price of emotion. Such weakness is beneath you._

He breathed in sharply, and exhaled with steeled resolve.

Shoot her, he signaled.

A shot rang across the silent desert, and for a moment he felt something akin to regret. He’d love to stay and toy with a little rabbit and send her off to spread word of the atrocities, but now she’s dead, whoever she was. The perverse and delirious joy of Oliver Swanick as harbinger will be a much better prelude to his sermon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is turning out to be more of a collection of exercises to learn how to write. This is the first piece of fiction I ever written. I'm very interested in honing my skills and learning the craft of writing, so criticism and advice is very welcome! I do have a plot and a story to tell about Vulpes, but I'm not promising I'll get to it in an organized fashion for lack of skill. I think I'll write little snippets, and as I get more comfortable writing, I'll try to push out the cohesive story.


End file.
